SECTION 8


 AUSTRALIAN MODEL RAILWAY BUILDINGS, STRUCTURES and ACCESSORIES


Well done on your purchase.


Ideally the modeller of this kit will have some experience in kit building and some experience in scratch building. 


Firstly I encourage you to check all parts are present and in good order.


On the Section 8 model Railway facebook page there are heaps of photographs that may help the modeller with this project. It is well worth a look. Scroll down to 6.2.2020. You do not have to be a subscriber to facebook to look.


Next - clean all flashing and similar from all parts. The more effort in this process the better the finished model.


Gluing of all cast parts must be done with super glue. Gluing of all part to cast parts must also be

 done with super glue. I have found the 2 dollar shop super glue is the best. ABS and styrene can be glued with the usual MEK and such glues.


Identify the four walls that make the basic shape of the building. It will be important to identify the wall that is on the platform side and the wall that is on the road side of the building. This is easily done by recognising the gable in the centre of the road side wall. The gable will be directly above the entry door. The small side walls are different. One has windows. Assume  you are standing on the platform and looking towards to building facing away from the tracks. The side wall with the windows will be to your left. The mitre joins in the corners should be dry tested and modified if required. These corners should be acceptable without too much modification. Next identify the small walls that make the entry area. There are three walls I term the entry walls and entry door walls. Dry test fit the mitre join of entry walls and the roadside wall. Fanning out of the mitre might be necessary. File or sand  both parts of the mitre until satisfied the join is neat and flush.


Glue the four main walls and also glue the support blocks on the inside corner of the assembly. Have the support blocks positioned so they are flush with the floor. There is clearance required to accommodate the roof assembly. Glue the three entry walls into a H shape. Do not Glue into the wall assembly yet. Identify the two internal braces. These assist the stability of the wall and should be positions where they do not interfere with the windows. Glue the internal braces into position. Paint the wall assembly and pain the entry wall assembly. The entry wall assembly is not glued into position as yet so as to make it easier to paint the rendered areas.  Once all the painting is completed and dry the entry wall assembly can be glued into its position. There are support blocks for inside the mitre join here also. Glue into position as previously instructed.


Paint windows, doors, entry arch and door panel and surrounds.


Identify the chimney parts. Paint each part prior to assembly. It is obvious how the assembly is constructed. The gable base is the  bottom then the brick body and the top is the decorative pointed part. Once painted and dry glue the assembly together. Put aside.


Identify the roof plate. The ruts on the top will accommodate the trusses to form the roof shape. Under- neath you will notice a rebated edge. This should fit inside the main wall assembly.


Identify the spine truss. These two are positioned back to back to create pointed centre along the truss. Some sanding of these truss part may be required to fit into the rut on the roof plate. Test fit and adjust accordingly. When satisfied glue into position. Identify the standard trusses. These are the most  common and fit into the ruts that cross the roof plate. Test fit into their position and glue when satisfied. The trusses that remain should be the 45 degree type. There are two types of these trusses. I have marked one type with a black dot. The trusses with the black dot are positioned in the 45 degree rut and paired back to back with a truss without a black dot. The black dot trusses are to be positioned closest to the standard truss. Study the 45 degree trusses closely. The three sides  I have titled the spine side, the bottom side and the angled site. The spine side is adjacent to the spine truss, the bottom side lays on the roof plate and the angled side is the longest side of the truss. The angled side and the spine side are both beveled. The bevel caters for the particular fall in the roof. The modeller must study these bevels to determine their correct positioning. Once satisfied glue into position.


Identify the roof skin that has the centre engraving. Also identify the roof skin ends. These should be laminated with the Northeast Lumber corrigated iron prior to positioning onto the roof assembly. Fasten the corrigated iron to the roof skin by what ever means you choose. I have used double sided tape to skick the lowest strip of corrigated iron along the skin. Then with more double sided tape only on the skin and PVA glue where the two corrigated iron over. Wiping away the excess glue with a damp tissue or similar. This PVA fashion of gluing should only be attempted after the corrigated iron has been painrted with etch primer. Laminate all the skins with the corrigated iron and then glue into position on the trusses. I have found the 5 minute Araldite to be quite successful for this part of the construction. Identify the brass etch ridging. Be careful the provide space for the chimney. The Chimney should be positioned obviously on the roof but directly above  the wall between the second and third road side wall window. This is about 75 mm from each end of the roof assembly. One you have established the required gap to accommodate the chimney glue the ridging into position. Care needs to be taken where the roof lines meet at each end. I studied actual roof to see how it should be attempted. I suggest this is the best method to adopt if you are unsure of what to do. This is one of the hardest parts of this construction. Identify the roof gable pyramid and the roof skin for the gable. Glue the two together. Laminate the skin with the corrigated iron. This assembly needs the base sanded so a level , square fit can be achieved. Place the gable  into position and identify what amount of sanding is required. Work on the sanding until satisfied then glue into position. This is another of the difficult sections of the construction. Once all the ridging and the gable assembly fitting is completed the roof assembly can be painted. Paint the eave also then glue the chimneys into position.


Paint the styrene strips for the gutters. Once dry cut to fit and glue into position. Identify the Gable facia and the finial. Similarly with the Gable facia. Either glue the finial into the rut at the peak of the facia then paint or paint parts prior to painting. Some sanding to the rut of the facia to accommodate the finial may be required. Identify the Gable support. This support sits under the roof skin of the Gable assembly flush with the end. The gable facia is then glued to the support at the end of the roof skin flush with the top of the roof.


Identify the verandah jig and the awning jig. On each there are three ABS plastic parts to each jig. The largest part has engraving on it. Arrows and initials. The initials represent either the verandah or awning jig. VL verandah Large (400 mm version). AJL Awning Jig Large. And AJ Awning Jig and MV Medium Verandah both the last two for the 280 mm version. The arrows point to where the the other pieces are to be glued. These other pieces make a fence for the jig. The ambition is for the jig to sit on the platform or roadside wall with the fences guiding where the jig is to be positioned. So the jig fence should sit on top of the wall with the engraved plate flush against the wall and also the small fence against the end wall. The 280 mm kits the jigs are symmetrical so work at both ends of the respective wall. In the 400 mm version the verandah has two jigs left side and right side. The arrows indicated which end they should be used for. The Awning jig for the 400 mm  version is symmetrical. One each engraved plate there are a series of very small holes 0.3 mm in diameter. These are guides to where holes are to be drilled into the walls. First the jig plate must be drilled out to 0.5 or 0.6 mm. The fences should be glued to the jig plate. Ensure the fence is positioned mid along the engraved jig plate. This is so it can to used both ends. That is from the front and back. Position the jig onto the wall assembly. Keeping it flush with the top and end. Using the jig holes as a guide drill .5 or .6 mm holes into the wall to accommodate the awning and verandah. Awning is on the road side wall and verandah is on the platform side wall. Once the holes are done. Its time for the assembly of the awning and verandah frames.


Identify the awning and verandah framework brass etch parts by clicking onto the bellow pdf files. they will show the etch panel and the parts within.


400 verandah.pdf

400 awning.pdf

280 verandah.pdf

  280 awning.pdf


Remove the etch parts from their tags as required. It is advisable to only removed parts as you go so not to loose or damage them. After removing the part from the tags clean away the remainder of the tag.


The awning frame instructions will be described first. Firstly laminate an awning frame to a frame end panel and a facia. These once assemble will form the end frames of the two awnings. They are left and fight handed so care should be taken to assemble in the correct order. The pointed end of all three should be layered on top of one another. Keeping the edges flush glue or solder. Be aware the majority of the awning frame should not be visible once the roof etc is installed. Removed the remainder of the awning frames from their tags. Paint. Once the paint is dry fit the awing frames into the holes already drilled in the road side wall. Once happy with the fit glue into position making sure they are flush with the wall and square. The bottom cord is there as an option for stability from awning frame to awning frame. It is not prototypical and in the model I have assembled I've not used them.   However if you wish to use them they spread across all of the frames and ruts in the cord will marry with the frames and for a very stable framework. If used it should be painted prior to installation.


Measure distances for the corrigated iron and cut to fit. Bend at 90 degrees the end lug on each of the the frame. This will be where the facia and gutter will be attached. Cut the gutter and facia to fit. Paint each and when dry glue the facia onto the lugs of the frames and then glue the gutter into position on the facia. Glue the corrigated iron into position.


The verandah frame is similar to the awning. Two of the verandah trusses must be laminated with the mesh ends. Be careful as a left hand and a right hand truss end combination are required. Paint the trusses and test fit into the platform wall. Once satisfied with the fit glue into position. Paint the verandah bracket cord. For this next step some support under the trusses might help. Use a small block of foam or similar. The cord helps stabilise the trusses and also provides the positioning for the verandah posts. Study these cords and identify the ruts. These ruts are locators for the trusses to fit into. The two cord are different and not symmetrical. Experimenting with the fit is required to establish the correct positioning. Once satisfied glue or solder into position. Cut the styrene rod into lengths that will be appropriate for the verandah posts. Underneath the verandah the posts should penetrate the cord by a couple of mm. If the posts and the verandah post ends are to be different colours paint now ortherwise assemble then paint. The post end are in two styles. One is larger than the other. The larger are the roof ones and the smaller on the ground. Position onto the posts as required and glue. Then glue into position into the cord. The trusses have a lug at the end similar to the awning. Bend at 90 degrees  and cut the facia to fit. The ends must be flush with the truss and meshends. Paint and glue onto the lugs. Then there are the valance etch. these are a decorative finish to the facia These  are positioned onto the facia and onto the bottom rail of the mesh ends circumnavigating the verandah. Paint the valance the gut to fit and glue into position. Paint the styrene gutter pieces and when dry cut ti fit and glue into position.


The roof for the verandah is made of 60mm  strips of the K & S corrigated iron. Utilise the gluing technique previously discussed. Over lap and glue to create a length long enough to cover the verandah frame assemble. Overhand a mm or so each end is advisable. One glued painted and ready the corrigated iron in formed into shape by the rolling technique. There maybe references on the web but its quite a simple process. place the corrigated iron onto a foam or similar bed. Using a round implement or rod roll it along the corrigated iron in the direction required to form the bullnose. I use a large dowel to start and progress to smaller dowel or rod. One the desired shape is achieved glue into position onto the verandah framework. I've had success with araldite gluing the verandah roof into position. Weight with bits and pieces and leave. 


Finished. I think.